Nine-Tailed Habanero
by Titan Dwarf
Summary: Kushina, through the compelled influence of the Kyuubi, eliminated her kidnappers before Minato could come to her rescue. How does this change their story together and how does she cope with the demonic power of her tenant? Minato/Kushina, AU.


**Author's Note:** A plot bunny I thought of while having Minato and Kushina on the brain. I kind of consider this an AU since I don't expect to get every tiny detail from their past right. Plus my own fill ins/additions/changes will be there.

I'm not going to promise that this will be great. I will let you, the reader, judge as you will.

 **Summary:** Kushina, through the compelled influence of the Kyuubi, eliminated her kidnappers before Minato could come to her rescue. How does this change their story together and how does she cope with the demonic power of her tenant? Minato/Kushina, AU.

 **© An anime/manga by Masashi Kishimoto**

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 **Chapter I: She Came from Uzushio**

* * *

The gates began to enter her line of sight after all the long, tireless hours of walking. Seeing those village gates after having nothing but seemingly endless rows of trees within her line of vision gave the young girl a sense of dissatisfaction. The young one, hair vibrantly red and flowing long, was Kushina Uzumaki. A girl previously a resident of her home village, Uzushiogakure. A place she greatly wished she could have remained instead of being moved out to Konoha.

She hadn't even the slightest understanding as to why she _alone_ had been removed from the village, and upon asking her Jounin escorts for answers they asserted they were just as unaware as she. They claimed that they'd only been told to retrieve and safely bring her back to Konoha. It wasn't an answer she liked, as it did virtually nothing to clear the unknown. Kushina had nearly accused them both of lying to her, but for once decided to leave it alone instead of demand some form of answer. It left her to instead fum as all three of them entered the village. The two Jounin stopped at the stand to speak with the two on-guard ninja. Stating their business and filling out forms to bring back to Sandaime Hokage, they resumed their trek to the Hokage Tower.

All the while, Kushina had held the same sour look on her face. Such an expression was what essentially amused the Hokage as soon as she'd been presented to him. After taking the offered documents and mission scroll from both ninja, he excused them before looking down at the redhead. He gave a kind smile. "Uzumaki Kushina, I formally welcome you to Konohagakure. I do hope to find that you feel as at home as possible here."

She looked up at him. " _Uzushio_ is my home!" She didn't know a _thing_ about this place, and certainly hadn't been familiar with the people who resided within it. This was the farthest feeling from "home" she'd ever felt in her life. "What am I even doing here?"

Hiruzen stared down at the girl, frowning a little as he stroked his beard. She didn't seem as welcoming to her new surroundings as he'd hoped she would be. Considering why it'd been so important in the first place to bring her here, and the future importance she'd hold to the village, he wholeheartedly hoped she didn't keep this mindset for too long. "I'm aware that this may be quite a big adjustment for you. Being taken from your home village so suddenly and moved elsewhere without any explanation must be very frustrating. It would be wrong of me to ask you to accept this change so quickly." Kushina crossed her arms, he'd hit the nail on the head with that one. "But please, you must bear with me. It may not be easy, but connecting yourself with your new home and fellow ninja will be of vast importance."

"Important how? You still haven't even told me why I had to leave." she pointedly stated.

Hiruzen nodded. "It's important because forging long-lasting bonds is the very backbone to our shinobi force. Strong comradery is the drive that pushes us forward as one."

"And I couldn't do that in Uzushio because...?"

"Kushina-san, please." Hiruzen sighed at her stubbornness. "In time any questions you have will be answered. For now, all I ask is that you at least try to give it a chance. You may be surprised to find that you enjoy it here."

She snorted. "I seriously doubt that, but whatever." He knew it was the closest thing to a positive answer he was going to get out of her, but all the same it was enough of an answer for Hiruzen.

He smiled. "Good. Now if you'll please follow me." He gently placed a hand on her upper back to guide her to the door. "There's someone that I would like you to meet, someone who has been anticipating your arrival." Kushina looked up at him as they walked down the hall. Someone had been excited to see her? _Her_? She had found that quite hard to believe, she didn't think she was anything special at all. She was going to ask the man just who it was that'd supposedly wanted to see her, but she figured the question would be answered upon their arrival to their destination.

Going all the way towards the back of the tower, they stopped at a large door. It was made of dark wood, and adorned with beautifully carved in designs. Hiruzen knocked on the door and paused, listening for the person on the other side. After hearing nothing he grabbed the door handle and twisted it, cracking it open and peeking inside. "Mito-sama?" Kushina moved to look through the open door. Her eyes widened at the sight of the large, pristine room. The walls and floor were white, a large widow with sheer white curtains let in natural light that seemed to give the room a beautiful glow. A prone form with long grayish red hair laid on the bed, one that Hiruzen approached after opening the door wider. Kushina stayed close behind. "Mito-sama." he repeated. Gently shaking the elderly woman awake when within reaching distance. She stirred, giving a light yawn and blinking her eyes open. "I'm sorry to wake you, but you told me to bring her to you as soon as she arrived."

"Kushina-san?" Mito said, sitting up with the kind help of Hiruzen. Turning to peer down and catching a glimpse of the little wide eyed girl made her smile. "Well hello there, it's nice to see you arrived here safe and soudly. I've been looking forward to meeting you, how are you feeling?"

Kushina didn't answer at first. Then, she hesitantly responded. "... Not so great. I wanna go home."

Mito's smile fell a little. Though it quickly returned to her face, in a more sympathetic fashion. "I'm sorry to hear that, Kushina-san."

"How do you know who I am?" Kushina questioned curiously.

"Oh, well, I've heard a lot about you is how! From Sandaime as a matter of fact. Fellow Uzumaki have passed on quite the amount information for Hiruzen to relay back to me, of a _very_ special little girl." Mito answered.

The redhead tilted her head. She'd have asked about how she could have been so 'special', but instead she had to question something else she'd brought up. "Fellow Uzumaki?"

Hiruzen chuckled, resting a hand on Kushina's shoulder. "Kushina-san, this is Uzumaki Mito." he introduced.

Kushina gaped. " _You're_ Uzumaki Mito?!" She felt embarrassed by the fact she hadn't recognized someone from her own clan, even more so considering it was someone as renowned as she. Kushina bowed her head in apology. "It's very nice to meet you, Mito-sama! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you..."

Mito chuckled, waving it off with her hand. "It's alright, dear. No need to apologize for such a silly mistake, it's true that my looks have changed with age. I'm sure anyone else would've made the same error." She was sure her very old appearance would have kept many from recognizing her. Especially since she hadn't actually been outside in _quite_ the amount of years. She turned to Hiruzen. "Thank you very much for bringing her to me Hiruzen, may we have some time to spend alone?"

"Certainly, Mito-sama." He bowed respectively before leaving the room.

Mito turned to Kushina, scooting over and patting the now available spot beside her. Kushina, getting the message, hopped up and comfortably sat beside the elderly woman on her bed. Mito neatly folded her hands into her lap and stared down at her curiously. "Now, what is it that's bothering you?"

The redhaired girl sighed, crossing her arms in a huff. "Everything! Those Konoha ninja took me right out of Uzushiogakure, and even worse the others all just let them do it! I wasn't even at least asked if I wanted to leave, and no one will tell me why I had to be moved here in the first place!" She looked up at Mito with hopeful eyes. "Do you know why?" She had to, if she'd been told about her specifically.

Mito nodded, she wasn't going to lie to the girl. "Actually yes, I do." Kushina beamed. Before she could ask anything further however, Mito cut her off. "But I'm afraid I can't quite tell you yet."

Kushina's smile fell, and she let out a sigh of defeat. "That's what the Hokage told me too!" She fell back onto one of the large pillows. "This isn't even fair, I hate it here!"

Mito frowned a little. "Why?"

"Because—" Kushina quickly paused, not knowing how to finish her sentence. "Because... because I just do, I don't know! This place isn't _anything_ like Uzushio!"

"How can you judge so quickly? You've only just arrived." Mito pointed out, it wasn't anything that Kushina could really argue with either. She was possibly judging a little too harshly, but she didn't care one bit. "Once you've seen everything around here and met the people, you may change your mind. You haven't given this place a sliver of a chance yet." Kushina didn't respond verbally, she only shrugged. "... You really miss Uzushiogakure, don't you?"

"Don't _you_?" Kushina asked, sitting back up. "You use to live there, didn't you?" Uzushiogakure is the land where all the Uzumaki originated from, it's where they all live. Other than her, she wouldn't be surprised if Mito were the only Uzumaki living inside the village right now. "Why would you leave in the first place? What would make you abandon your home like that?" Anyone listening would have scolded Kushina mercilessly for being so rude to someone like Mito, but the old woman only smirked at her question. She did quite enjoy interacting people who weren't scared to speak their mind to her. It was a big change from the usual tiptoeing and butt kissing.

"Love." The confused look on Kushina's face prompted her to continue. "I fell in the with a man named Senju Hashirama, who would later found this village with another man and become its very first Kage. After we married I left of my own accord to be by his side, right where I _knew_ he needed me." She smiled down at her again. "I didn't abandon my home child, I made the choice I thought was best for me. In my ambition to bring two villages closer together. And because of it both Konoha and Uzushio have even closer ties with one another, you know."

"Really?" Kushina asked, she hadn't really known anything about that. As far as pacts went.

"Oh yes." Mito nodded. "Both villages are very welcoming of the other. But I'll let you in on a little secret." Kushina had been very interested now, looking Mito straight in the eye and giving undivided attention. She reached over to run her hand through Kushina's long hair. "I was pretty nervous when I first arrived here too."

"You were _nervous_?" Mito was someone who just oozed the very essence of grace and confidence. She could feel it just sitting next to her, so to know someone like her had ever felt nervous was a bit of a shock. "But you're... _you_!"

Mito giggled. "Yes, but I'm only human after all. At the time, I had never been outside Uzushio before. The only times, before we wed, that I'd seen Hashirama were when he visited the village. Either on official business, or to see me." She sighed at the memory. "So many things had been running through my mind. Here I was, a young, sheltered girl leaving the only home she'd ever known to start anew elsewhere. I was thinking about the same things you're probably thinking too. Would it be a place I could eventually call home? Would the natives like me? Would I even be accepted by them?" she explained. Kushina twisted some strands of her hair, looking down at her lap. "Is that what you're afraid of?"

Kushina paused, before nodding her head. "I guess so..." she trailed.

"So it isn't the village itself at all then. Filling your head with all those questions made you feel discouraged." Mito draped her arm around Kushina and pulled her closer, the young Uzumaki rested her head on her shoulder. "After I'd settled in I realized just how wrong I truly was. I was accepted with open arms and felt just as at home as I ever did in Uzushio. All along I was being silly, and _I_ think you may be too." She resumed petting her head.

"Yeah... I do still miss Uzushio though."

"So did I, at the time." Mito admitted. "It's perfectly natural. Uzushiogakure was your home, and no matter how long you live in Konoha it will always be your _true_ home. No one will force you to think otherwise, you won't ever need to." She grabbed her chin and turned Kushina's head up to look at her. "Now for your own sake, can you give your _second_ home a chance?"

This woman was the first and only one to actually try so hard to lift her spirits like this, she felt a great sense of comfort around Mito in just that short amount of time. The fact that she'd put in such effort when she hadn't even been obligated touched her a little. Kushina smiled, then it grew wide as can be. She threw her arms around Mito, burying her head into her chest. "Yes!" Mito hugged Kushina right back, letting the girl hold her for however long she needed to. After some time, Kushina pulled back a little to look at her. "Mito-sama?"

"Yes, dear?" she replied.

"What was Hashirama-sama like?" She'd wondered soon after he was first brought up.

Mito smiled, her cheeks even turned a little pink. "Oh he was such a _lovely_ man. So kind, generous, and noble. An old-fashioned gentlemen who stole my heart as soon as I'd met him." Her smile widened a little at the memory of him. "I remember when he first proposed to me. He'd used his Mokuton release to grow me the largest tree I'd ever seen in my _life_." Kushina had seen that tree before. The trunk was very wide, the branches and leaves more than plentiful, and it towered high over nearly the entire village. Right in the center of the land. "I was so touched by the gesture, he'd made it just for me. As a way for me to have a piece of him with me for any time we were apart. Then he said no matter how large he could have grown it, it still never would have come even a fraction close to messuring the love he felt for me."

Kushina blushed, then squealed. "That's so romantic!"

Mito giggled, covering her mouth with her kimono sleeve as her cheeks turned redder. "Yes it was, I couldn't have possibly denied him after something like that. Then..."

 **o O o**

Minato patiently sat in his seat, quietly waiting for class to begin while all the other students chattered on. The sensei had held off on starting the lecture, informing them all that someone new was being added to their class. As this new student had yet to arrive, the lesson wouldn't begin until she introduced herself to them all and took her seat. To avoid her being behind in the lesson and having to repeat any information.

"If they miss out on something it's their own fault." Hiro said from beside Minato. "Ain't that right, Minato-kun?"

"Um, well—"

"I mean, if the rest of us know how to be on time then so should they." Hiro interjected. "They're screwing with our learning time, I'm trying to be a ninja!" Minato didn't speak, he only nodded his head. Not really listening to what the boy beside him was saying anymore. He didn't even care if this person, whoever they were, held up the class with their tardiness. The lesson would just start whenever it started as far as he saw. It wasn't anything for people to get up in arms about.

Soon enough the door was thrown open, and in walked a girl who confidently held her head up high. The one who must have been late, her hair was very long... and red. Minato curiously stared at her, he'd never seen anyone in the village who looked like her. She must not have been from around there. With her round, wide eyes and chubby cheeks, her hair made her look very cute. "You wanna take a picture, or what?" Hiro whispered to the blonde.

"Shut up." Minato muttered, shoving Hiro by the shoulder while the boy only laughed.

"You must be Kushina-san." the sensei said from his desk. "You're a bit late, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it took longer to walk here than I first thought... sorry." she apologized. Nervously rubbing her neck.

"Forget it, doesn't matter." He waved off. "You're here now. So feel free to tell the class your name, a little about yourself, and then sit down where ever you'd like." he stated, leaning back in his chair with crossed arms.

Kushina nodded and walked over to stand in front of his desk. Looking at all of the students who had their expectant eyes on her made her a little nervous. She was known back home for always having her foot in her mouth, what if she said something stupid? _'Just be myself.'_ she reminded herself, just like Mito had told her before she left. Taking a deep breath, Kushina pumped up a fist. "Alright, all of you listen up! My name is Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane!" The sudden booming of her voice caused a lot of students to jump back, Minato included. "I come from the amazing village of Uzushiogakure! And as a future kunoichi of Konoha, I vow to be this village's first female Hokage!" she proudly exclaimed, and no one had said a word when she was finished.

Everyone was staring at her as if she'd had some kind of screw loose. "... How would you be Hokage? You're not even from here!" Someone shouted from the back of class.

"Yeah, she's just a foreigner."

"Is she trying to be funny?" Soon the class erupted in laughter, and Kushina's previously confident demeanor fell. She dropped her arm and her mouth fell open a little.

"Look at her hair, it's so red!"

"And her cheeks are so chubby, she looks like a tomato."

"She's a tomato!" Kushina's cheeks grew red in embarrassment as she began to grow angry at the name calling.

"Look at how red her face is getting!" The laughter grew a bit louder, the sensei tried to make everyone quiet down. But only when Minato stood up did they being to quiet themselves, however. All eyes were trained on him while his full attention was on Kushina.

"It's nice to meet you Kushina-san, welcome to Konoha." he greeted, much to some people's surprise. "I wanna be Hokage too!" he beamed, he really had. He didn't want her to feel embarrassed about having shared her dream with them all like that, there was nothing wrong with that.

Sharing the same dream with someone was a good and brisk way to establish friendship. It was exactly what Minato had intended when he said it, but as soon as he saw the glare Kushina sent his way he knew it had the opposite effect. "You look like a whimpy girl!" she snapped, making him lose his smile. "How would a sissy like you be Hokage?!"

"Alright, I think that's enough." The sensei said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Class has been delayed long enough. Kushina-san, please take your seat." Kushina listened, walking up the steps while other children snickered as she passed them. She went up to the highest bench and slid all the way to the end, right in the corner.

"Minato-kun is so cool, he could definitely be Hokage some day~" A girl gushed.

"I don't care, at least he's not some dumb outsider."

Kushina rested her head in her folded arms, and Minato took quick notice to the sullen look on her face as he continued to stare. The response he gotten hadn't been what he expected at all, but he'd chalked it up to her just being upset.

Which is what prompted him to later try again during lunch time. She was seated outside just like everyone else, underneath a tree far away from the other students. He sat down in front of her and she looked up at him. "I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot." He smiled and stuck out a hand. "So hi, I'm Namikaze Minato." She glanced down at his outstretched hand, then back up at him with narrowed eyes. He'd quickly gotten the impression that she had _no_ intention of shaking his hand. "O-Okay then..." he awkwardly trailed, pulling his hand back. There was an awkward silence between the two before he spoke again. "So... what's that you're eating?"

"That's a dumb question." Kushina spat. "Why do you want to know?"

"I was just... curious?" He didn't really know how to answer that. He'd only been trying to start conversation with her.

"...Daifuku and furikake rice." she bitterly answered. She'd made it herself in fact, though a little unsuccessfully may one add.

"Oh, is it any good?" Minato asked, thinking she was beginning to open up a little more.

"Why don't you try some?" she questioned before pushing her lunch box straight into his face and shoving him onto his back. She calmly stood up, dusted off her shorts, and walked away without another word. Removing the sticking bento box from his face and knocking off the sticky rice he turned and sat in disbelief as he watched her walk back inside the building.

That...was _very_ rude...

 **o O o**

After school Minato had gone straight to their village's bathhouse. Hopping up onto the roof to find Jiraiya just like he knew he would. The Toad Sage sat with binoculars in hand, a notepad and pencil at his side. "Well well, _there_ he is." Jiraiya greeted, not even looking his way. "How was school today, Minato?"

"Hey, Jiraiya-sama." Minato greeted back, plopping down next to the white haired sannin. "Kind of bad."

"Bad? Well, that's definitely a first." Jiraiya commented. Putting down his binoculars to write something in his notepad. "Lay it on me kid, what happened?"

"Well, there was this new girl in class today. Her name is Kushina—"

"Kushina you say?" Jiraiya cut off, stopping his writing and turning to the boy. "Uzumaki? Long red hair, came from Uzushiogakure?"

Minato blinked. "Ye... yes. How did you—"

"Sarutobi-sensei told me about her some time before she was set to come here." he said before returning his attention back to his writing. "So, what about her? What happened?"

"She declared her goal of being Hokage to the class and everyone laughed at her. So to try and make the situation better, I told her about how I wanted to be Hokage too."

"And?"Jiraiya pressed.

"And...then she said I was a girly whimp." Minato sighed. "Then she called me a sissy! And if that weren't bad enough, when I tried talking to her again later she threw her lunch in my face and pushed me to the ground." He slouched. "I was only trying to be nice but... I think she actually might hate me. And I don't know why."

"Do you, by any chance, happen to like this girl, Minato?" the man curiously asked.

Minato blushed and firmly denied such an accusation. "Of course not!"

"Well then just let it go is what I say. I don't see why you care so much about her possibly 'hating' you, if you don't even like her that way." Jiraiya stated. "Why continue to be bothered with her?"

"Why be bothered with Tsunade-sama when she rejects you all the time?" Minato questioned right back. Not to mention how the woman hit him a lot to boot.

Switching back to his binoculars, Jiraiya held up a finger. "One, we have a long history together so that's a whole 'nother story." He held up another digit. "Two, that's completely besides the point here. Women are very confusing creatures by nature Minato."

"It's just her behavior that confuses me though." Minato tried to clarify.

"Exactly, because all women display confusing behavior."

"By that I meant she seems really angry with me, and I don't know why. That's all I don't understand." the boy explained further. He felt as if the older man weren't understanding him.

"Yes, just like the rest of the female race." Jiraiya looked over at him again. "Minato, listen, there's going to come a time where you realize girls are going to mostly always be angry with you about something one way or another. You might know why, you might not. If you don't know why and they make you guess, they'll get even angrier if you get it wrong. Sometimes it can be blamed on their monthly visitor, other times that just makes their attitudes all the more worse. It's just the circle of life." He put his eyes back into his binoculars. "The quicker you realize and accept that, the better."

Minato took a minute to mull that over in his mind. There were a few girls in his class that appeared to be quite shy. They spoke too low for you to really hear them, and overall gave off a vibe that told you they'd never raised their voice at someone a day in their lives. Some people were just soft spoken, girls included. "I don't think that's completely true, Jiraiya-sama. I mean, to say all girls are like that."

"Kushina sounds like she is, based off of what you told me."

Minato pressed his lips together. "Yeah, but—"

" _Minato_ , you're far too young for me to have expected you to understand any of this." Jiraiya said. "That being said, you'll understand when you're older. For now, you can just allow my words of wisdom to marinate in your head."

While Jiraiya was a phenomenal instructor, he didn't give very good everyday advice sometimes. Minato nodded. "Yeah, sure Jiraiya-sama." he said just to be finished with that talk. "Hey, can I ask you something else?"

"Shoot." Jiraiya said, writing down more notes.

"Why are you always peeping at the women here?" Minato asked.

"Why for research, my dear boy." The Toad Sage answered.

"Researching what?" Minato wasn't quite seeing the connection there.

"That's another thing I'll tell you when you're older."

 **o O o**

Kushina went straight to Mito's room as soon as she'd gotten to the Hokage Tower. She hadn't even knocked on the woman's door before entering, only drug herself right in and laid across her lap. Mito closed the book she'd been reading and sat it down on her nightstand. Then she pet Kushina's head. "How did your first day go?"

"Awful." the young girl answered. "I tried to be myself, just like you told me Mito-sama. I even told them I wanted to be Hokage to make a good impression." She leaned up a little to look at her. "Then they _laughed_ at me, can you believe them?!"

"Sounds like things didn't go as well as I'd hoped." Mito commented.

"No, they didn't. Then some stupid jerk had the nerve to get up and say he wanted to be Hokage too. He was probably making fun of me, the girly little..." she angrily trailed, laying back down. "Just because I'm a foreigner, they didn't even try to give me a chance. They called me a tomato." She insecurly began to toy with her red hair.

"Children your age can be very hard to please sometimes." Mito said. "They're young and don't have much empathy for others just yet, and don't realize that they're hurting your feelings—"

"They aren't hurting my feelings!" Kushina defended.

Mito smiled. "Of course, my mistake." The woman knew good and well that the girl was lying, but chose to let her have it her way regardless. "I'm sure with time things will get better." Kushina smiled a little at Mito's optimism. "Would you like me to have someone downstairs fix you a bowl of ramen? Would that make you feel better?"

Kushina immediately perked up and smiled widely at Mito. "Yes please!"

 **o O o**

Their Academy training was set to be through given two years time, as such Kushina needed to attend special after school classes to get caught up on their curriculum. The girl already knew chakra control, and could throw kunai and shuriken adequately. It seemed she was decent enough at the basics and would only have to practice during her own downtime to improve them. When getting to the subject of ninjutsu, namely the clone technique, that was when she began to have trouble. She wasn't performing the jutsu correctly at all, it was as if she'd never used it before. Which she of course hadn't. Back in Uzushio her training had gotten stopped during her basic ninjutsu lessons due to the Konoha shinobi appearing to take her away.

It was only a further subject of ridicule when the other students saw how poorly she'd perform it during actual class time. They would quip that Uzushio didn't know how to teach their kids. It successfully angered Kushina every time and she lash out at the ignorant children. "Shut up you bunch of nobodies! You don't know _anything_ about Uzushio! 'ttebane!" It would only cause for more laughter, especially at the hearing of the verbal tic that Minato admittedly found cute.

One day, soon following their release after the days lessons were over, he found the familiar redhead sitting outside the school's entrance. As her special after school courses were no longer mandatory. Right on the steps, carefully but quickly drawing in the dirt while he approached her. "Um... hi." He awkwardly waved. Despite what Jiraiya had previously told him, he was sure she just needed a friend. He didn't know why she had to leave her homeland, and maybe it was difficult for her to get adjusted here. Especially considering what her school life was like.

Kushina hadn't even bothered looking up at him when he stopped in front of her. She only furrowed her eyebrows and kept her eyes to the ground in front of her. "Oh, it's _you_." She didn't sound very happy with the fact that he was here, and that made Minato frown. " _What_?" She looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to say whatever he needed to say so he could leave. He was blocking her sun.

"Well, I—" he paused. Taking the time to actually look down at what she was doing, he saw she wasn't just drawing random doodles into the dirt like he initially assumed. Those were symbols. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She returned her attention back to the ground, continuing her writing.

"It looks like you're writing random stuff in the dirt." he said.

"It isn't random stuff!" she exclaimed. "This was the part of my calligraphy lesson I was working on." she muttered lowly. Before she had to leave, that is.

Calligraphy? Minato had heard that part. "So does that mean you practice fuuinjutsu?" Jiraiya knew just a bit of that.

She paused, she'd hadn't anticipated for him to hear her like he did. "Yes." she answered, resuming. "I practice my writing everyday after school, I write too slow. And if I write too fast I mess up."

"Everyday after school?" Minato asked. "For how long?"

"All day." He was beginning to distract her, she hoped he would get up and leave her alone already.

"How do you ever have time to practice the clone technique then?" Was this all she really did all day?

"I don't."

Minato gaped. "You haven't even been practicing?! You were already so caught up with everyone, at this rate you're gonna fall behind!"

"I don't care, I'm not practicing anything else until I get this right!" She continued to draw her symbols, and erase them if she felt it was incorrect. "This is more important!"

"No it's not." He grew nervous at the angry, slightly offended look she cast him. The fact she clenched the hand she was drawing with made him think she was going to hit him. "What I mean is, this stuff isn't exactly part of the curriculum here!" He tried to clarify. "This isn't going to count for anything in class. So, don't you think it would be... _better_ to just focus on what's actually being taught to you right now?"

"I don't care if it's not taught here!" she argued, standing up and to get in his face. "That just sucks for _you_ all! Just because stupid Konoha ninja don't have the privilege of mastering such a divine form of ninjutsu, doesn't mean I have to be one of them!" She held up a fist. "I'm Uzushiogakure and Uzumaki born, because of that this comes first!" She didn't _have_ to give up her roots just because she lived in Konoha now, just like Mito told her.

Minato blinked, she proved to be quite the hard headed one. If not just plain stupid, that is. "This isn't Uzushio though."

"So?!"

"So it doesn't come first, have you actually _seen_ the clones you make?" They honestly looked atrocious. "And that's not even the hardest one that we're going to be learning! You say you wanna be a great kunoichi, that you wanna be Hokage—"

"I am going to be Hokage!" Kushina interjected.

" _How_ , if you don't get your priorities straight?" Minato questioned. "What kind of Kage has never passed Ninja Acade— _gah_!" He was swiftly punched in the face, right in the nose, and immediately silenced by the white-hot pain that followed.

"You're cruel!" Kushina was glaring at him in the worst way she could muster. "Now you listen to me, I'm not gonna be bossed around by you or _anybody_ else! I'm gonna be Hokage _my_ way, dattebane!" Kushina shouted. "Stay away from me!" With that she quickly ran away while Minato held his bleeding nose. As he watched her leave he thought about not only how strong she was, but if what he said really did sound as cruel as she accused. Was it? Or was she just being sensitive? He'd only been trying to help, he didn't even know how it could've turned so south like that.

He sighed, tilting his head back to help his bleeding nose. "Jiraiya was right, girls are so confusing..."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I didn't want to start at the actual point of kidnapping, like I was originally going to do. After giving it some thought I figured it was dumb lol XD

Upon researching I learned that the point at which Uzushio was destroyed isn't specifically known. That it either happened shortly before Kushina left for Konoha, or just after. For this fic, I'm going with after.

 **TBC**


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